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I thought it would be a good idea to post the Official Proclamation that April 16, 2010 is North Andover Foursquare Day. On April 5th 2010 the Board of Selectmen gathered for their meeting, and at 7:35pm took a rather unique vote. With unanimous approval, all the board members signed the attached proclamation.

We should be very proud of our Board of Selectmen for being so progressive. There are actually very few municipalities that have made an official proclamation. Many have endorsed or talked about it, but few have made it official.

In essence this states that North Andover believes in local business. That North Andover supports new initiatives to drive business into our borders. That North Andover is willing to support new endeavors to differentiate itself. Just another reason why North Andover is such a great place to work, live and play. Continue Reading

Thanks to Brian Messenger at the Eagle Tribune for writing a great article on what this is all about. Hopefully the North Shore, Southern NH, Boston and of course North Andover can come out on Friday, checkin, have fun, explore, party, earn some badges, and… oh yeah, kick Little Rock’s butt!

North Andover, MA Businesses Organize to Represent Massachusetts in National Foursquare Day with “Foursquare Crawl”

New Social Media Phenomenon On April 16, Drawing a Crowd

NORTH ANDOVER, MA, APRIL 12, 2010 – Fifteen North Andover businesses will celebrate National Foursquare Day in a very local way this Friday (April 16). The number of business offering Foursquare promotions, a new social media application, more than doubled in the past week, and more requests to join from North Andover keep coming in.

Each hour, a business will roll out the red carpet for Foursquare users that checkin. The day will start at 9:00 a.m. at Perfecto’s Caffe, and will wind its way around North Andover at various shops, salons and restaurants.

“By focusing each hour on a particular business, it increases the user’s chance of gaining the hard to get swarm badge,” says Paul Boulanger, organizer of North Andover Foursquare and co-owner of Turtle Lane Maple Farm.

The swarm badge requires 50+ people to checkin at the same location at the same time, and is not easy to attain. “It’s also a way for users to travel together, therefore adding to the fun of the day,” says Boulanger. “Not everyone will be able to spend the day traversing the town, but this way people will know where to be if they have an opportunity.”

The day will end at the 13th venue, The Loft, at 9:00pm. This is where the party gets started. “Having a party at The Loft is a great way to end the day,” says Jim Dietz, owner of The Loft and Joe Fish Seafood. Our objective is to earn the Super-Swarm badge with 250+ people checkin at the same time. If we do this, I will provide a free buffet to everyone that made it happen.” Continue Reading

So most people have heard of a “pub crawl”. Maybe the term brings back memories of hanging out with friends in college, or maybe nights laughing and sharing stories. The concept is to move from place to place, experiencing different venues and indulging in a bit of free-spiritedness.

Well, we have put a little twist on the concept, and on April 16th we are having a Foursquare Crawl in North Andover.

On top of having a festive Foursquare Day where businesses all around town will be offering specials to 4sq users, we have 13 businesses that are doing something a little extra special. Starting at 9:00am and going throughout the day till 10:00pm, each hour, one featured business will roll out the red carpet to those that checkin. What does this mean for you? Well a couple things…

Each business will have a special tasting, demo or promotion for Foursquare users beyond the traditional checkin promotions they have every day

They say “two is company and three is a crowd”, but 50 is a swarm. By focusing users to one location each hour, it increases the chance of gaining a swarm badge (50+ users checked into a business at the same time)

We just think it will be fun moving from place to place with a group of people.

Here we go…

Our first stop on the crawl is at Perfecto’s Caffee at 9:00am. We figured this would be a great way to start the day, get a little fuel in your tank. Perfecto’s is a local morning hotspot, with friendly staff and tasty food.

It is likely, if you have a Facebook account, that you have seen the message “Your friend [insert friend here] has just checked in”. And you probably have wondered to yourself what that is all about. Well I am here to help explain that. For reference, here is my profile on Foursquare: http://foursquare.com/user/pwbj

What has happened is your friend decided to jump on the social networking bandwagon and downloaded the Foursquare App to their smart phone. We all lead busy lives, going from here to there. Some places are interesting like that neat little restaurant or great little pastry shop. Other places are more mundane; dry cleaners, endless walking through Home Depot (one of my favorites), or grocery store. But everything is just that much more interesting when you can share it with friends. Now I am not suggesting piling all your friends into the minivan for a jaunt off to HD, but you can allow them to tag along with Foursquare. Foursquare allows you to go into a business, and with your smartphone, checkin. You can even write a little note to add some flavor.

We are announcing that The Loft Restaurant will be the site for the North Andover Foursquare Day Party. At 9:00pm on April 16, 2010 we encourage all Foursquare users in the greater Boston area to converge on North Andover to celebrate North Andover Foursquare Day. Foursquare Day is a way for businesses to connect with their customers who are plugged into the new media craze, using the application Foursquare.

Jim Dietz, owner of The Loft, has agreed that if we can gather 250+ users to checkin at 9pm, and gain the rare “super-swarm” badge, he will provide a free buffet for those checked in. Jim says “we are in a very traditional business, and we have gotten used to very traditional ways of marketing. This is an exciting opportunity to get ahead of the curve, and attract new customers”. Forging new customer relationships and building loyalty is even more critical than ever, given this economy. “Social media is here to stay and we are looking forward to embracing the brave new world, starting with a party on April 16th,” states Jim. We are planning fun activities through out the day at various businesses. The day will end with a big party at The Loft.

So far we have 14 businesses signed up to present Foursquare users with promotions if they checkin while at the venues (check out the list of venues on this site). And although they have special promotions on the 16th, they will continue to offer “checkin discounts” to users on a go forward basis. Some businesses are even stepping up the promotions as the number of checkins (and thus loyalty) increases.